In honor of the beloved topping for various treats and sweets, let’s talk a little bit about a famous coconut in the U.S. Navy. As many people are aware, President John F. Kennedy commanded PT-109 during World War II. What fewer people know is that a coconut saved his life and that of his crew after a collision with Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) destroyer Amagiri on the night of 1 August 1943. The impact of the destroyer rendered the patrol craft completely useless, killed two crew members, and left several crew members injured.
As PT-109 began to sink the following morning, Lieutenant (junior grade) Kennedy and his crew decided the best course of action would be to swim to the nearest island, a staggering three-and-a-half miles away, to avoid capture from the pressing IJN patrols. Several members of the PT-109 crew were unable to swim, and as a result, Kennedy (who competed on the Harvard swim team) fashioned a small tow out of the nearby wreckage and pulled his debilitated crew members along using the strap of a life jacket harness.
Arriving at Plum Pudding Island, known to the crew as “Bird” Island, the crew of PT-109‘s ordeal was far from over. Fearing the nearing IJN patrols, Kennedy hid his crew on the island. He then proceeded to swim back out to sea in hopes of locating any passing U.S. PT boat patrols, which were constantly engaging Japanese merchant traffic. Despite his efforts, Kennedy was unable to locate any passing Allied ships and began his long swim back to the crew, but strong currents dragged him further out to sea. Nearly drowned, Kennedy made his way to neighboring Leorava Island (southeast of Bird Island). After recuperating on Leorava Island, Kennedy made his way back to the crew of PT-109.
With limited resources on Bird Island, the battered and drained crew swam to the second-to-last island in the chain, Olasana, and found that their situation had not improved because of the island lacked viable resources. In a final attempt to scout for a suitable island, Lieutenant Kennedy and Ensign George Ross ventured over to Naru Island (the last island in the immediate island chain). On their arrival, they were shocked to discover a few basic supplies from a Japanese shipwreck as well as two Pacific Island Natives, Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana. Despite efforts to contact the islanders by Kennedy and Ross, the islanders left quickly, leaving Kennedy and Ross to explore the island on their own.
After venturing on the island for supplies and potential help, Kennedy and Ross located a hidden canoe and with leftover water and Japanese candy from the shipwreck. Kennedy made his way back to Olasana Island, leaving Ross to rest until rescue could be organized. Kennedy discovered that the two islanders they encountered on Naru Island where spies for Allied forces and had discovered the crew of PT-109 when stopping to rest. The two islanders knew the location of Allied coast watchers, but Kennedy had no obvious means of providing a message to authenticate his position and situation. It was at this moment that Biuku Gasa showed Kennedy how to carve a message on a coconut husk. The message read:
“NAURO ISL
COMMANDER . . . NATIVE KNOWS
POS’IT . . . HE CAN PILOT . . . 11 ALIVE
NEED SMALL BOAT . . . KENNEDY”
Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana took the message to the Allied forces and a rescue party was organized to recover Kennedy and his crew. Later, duirng Kennedy’s presidency, the coconut that saved is life was recovered and sat as a paperweight in the Oval Office.
